Composition and diversity of epizoic macroalgae growing on crustaceans on the southeastern coast of Cuba

Epibiotic species and epibiotic communities are heterogeneously distributed among individuals and body parts and habitats. They have a profound ecological impact, since the presence of epibionts affects the fitness of basibionts directly as well as indirectly, by modulating its interactions with the abiotic and biotic environment. In this article we assess the composition, alpha and beta diversity of epizoic macroalgae on crustaceans. Alpha diversity of epizoic macroalgae was determined for each of the basibionts as the effective number of species (qD). We proceeded with the correlation methodology Olmstead-Tukey to determine the hierarchical organization. On the shallow coast of the province of Santiago de Cuba, 24 epizoic macroalgae were found on the exoskeletons of six species of crustaceans. The hierarchical position of epizoic macroalgae in crustaceans is characterized by a predominance of rare species, followed by dominant, occasional and finally constant taxa. The greatest richness and diversity of epizoic macroalgae species was found on majoid crustaceans, which have active a masking behavior. The highest values of species richness, alpha and beta diversity of epizoic macroalgae were found in crustaceans with active camouflage. The fact that beta diversity is determined by the replacement of species reinforces the idea that these crustaceans use macroalgal assemblages to camouflage themselves.